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16 Apr 2013

Annapurna Circuit: Part 3

We set off at 4am and started up the
hill. It was pitch-black and the only
light was coming from our head torches. The
path was slippery as the water had frozen overnight – Tsering fell over at one
point but he was ok. We plodded for an
hour until we reached the high camp where some people had stayed but we had decided
to sleep at the lower altitude lodge.

The walk after that camp was long and became gradually slower as we
ascended the various minor peaks – this was mostly because Josi was setting the
pace! The path was mostly in the snow which
was deep in places and hadn’t been trodden by many. But worst was the wind and the cold – after
two hours both John and Josi couldn’t feel their fingers (John cursing the £3
gloves he had bought!) and it was a gruelling plod to the pass, which we reached at a very respectable 8am. The views were fascinating and we were now standing at our highest point on the trek - 5,416m!

We were the second group to reach the pass summit
café – a small hut which served only black tea or coffee, but relative luxury. The sun came out as we were on the pass and
we warmed ourselves before starting the long decent to Muktinath. Here the snow had started to melt as the sun
was warming the surface – this made some sections very slippery. We were impressed that Tsering always seemed
to be there to catch Josi when she was slipping – although he took a small
tumble in the mud at the end but managed to do a handstand and end standing up
– impressive!

We entered Muktinath and Tsering
took us to the Buddhist monastery
which had two eternally glowing flames in one of the temples. He then took us to our hostel – which,
unfortunately, was one of the worst ones we had stayed in. Later that evening two girls arrived who had
taken 14 hours to complete the pass.
Tsering couldn’t believe it and said he was pleased that he had been
with us!

Day
12: Muktinath - Marpha

We decided to start making up for
our extra day in Manang straight away, so we planned the very long day to
Marpha (passing the usual stop in Jomsom).
The terrain on this side of the pass was completely different to
anything we had seen so far. It was very
dry and rocky and more earthy/orange coloured.
We were also very close to the Tibetan border here so Tsering mentioned
that this was geographically very similar.

After some hours of walking we came
to a valley where we walked in the dried out (pre-monsoon) river bed. The wind
here was intense and relentless – at times meaning you could hardly take a
step forward. At one point Tsering
looked as though he would be swept away by a small twister. For this reason, flights in and out of Jomsom
can only operate until about 10am after which the winds are too intense. It was very tiring but our efforts were
rewarded with a good lunch in Jomsom.

When we arrived in Marpha, we loved
it immediately. It is a small, traditional village with only white
stone houses with piles of wood on top (the latter historically being a measure
of someone’s wealth), donkeys, yaks, goats and sheep. There was a monastery at the top of the
village which gave a great vista of the village, the green fields and the
orchards. We also looked in the many
Tibetan shops – all of whom used the phrase “just buy one little thing, this is
a small business!” or “you are my first customer today – for you, special
price!” We decided to sacrifice some space for three traditional Tibetan wooden
containers.

Marpha is well known for its apples,
and we stayed in a great little guesthouse which made its own apple juice,
apple crumble and on that day had finished brewing apple cider and apple brandy.
The chef was a hilarious man, fuelled somewhat by his own brew. We all sat in the kitchen and ate his famous
lasagne – which was our favourite meal of the trek – it was made with 100%
local ingredients. He was so impressed
with Josi’s height that he renamed her “Everest” and John “Poon hill” (a diminutive
3200m peak we would be climbing in a few days).
Tsering loved this and we used it for many days!

Pictures from Day 13

Day
14: Ghasa - Tatopani

The last two days had been very long
and challenging and Tsering had told us that Tatopani had some good hot
springs. We wanted to make sure we had a
full day for this so we decided to take the local bus for the short journey to
Tatopani. The terrain was similar to
what we had been trekking for the last few days so we didn’t miss anything going
by bus. The local bus was also an experience – it was colourful, full of
people, played loud music and wasn’t afraid of corners or on-coming traffic,
despite precipitous drops just inches away!

We arrived in just three hours and
checked in to another of our favourite teahouses – Old Kamala. They served great food, had an excellent
chocolate cake, and were just minutes from the hot springs.

The hot springs had been diverted into two pools which you could sit
comfortably in while holding a cold drink of your choice – Johns was beer. We enjoyed many hours there and met a few
more travellers. After relaxing there we
both felt revived and that our legs were once again ready to move on. It was a good rest day.

Day
16: Ghorapani – Poon Hill - Tadapani

From Tatopani to Ghorapani, we had
trekked through some beautiful villages surrounded by green fields and a
self-sustainable lifestyle. We both
agreed that you could spend many days here and when John saw they were
excavating white marble from the mountain to make steps for the village, his
mind turned briefly to renovations.

From Ghorapani onwards we had been
surrounded by the famous and beautiful rhododendrons
in pink and red - they covered nearly every inch of the view.

On this particular morning, we woke
up at 4am to head up Poon Hill,
where, on a clear day, there are spectacular panoramic views of the surrounding
mountain ranges. The trek took about an
hour – but we were not alone. This part
of the trek is enjoyed by many tourists as it can be done as part of many
shorter treks as well as the longer ones.
We seemed to get a lot of kudos from the people we spoke to as they were
complaining about being sore after only one day of walking. On arrival at sunrise on Poon Hill, we were
unlucky to have a cloudy day, which meant that we could only see part of the
range and it was quite hazy, although we did have a good view of the Fishtail (Machapuchare). The views
we had seen on the Annapurna Circuit so far had been much more impressive.

Day
17 – Day 19: Tadapani – Pokhara

We continued on our trek for three
more days, moving quickly as we were now on the final stretch. We stayed in some good teahouses again and
were able to spend an afternoon by the river.
Josi decided to buy a “lungi”
which is a local Nepali skirt – this received much attention and praise by the
locals. We bumped into one man who said
to us: “This lungi is very nice. Now to
be a true nepali woman ("Didi") you need to carry a basket on your head with both
rucksacks. And then you (pointing at
John) need to carry the woman” – then he started laughing.

Our trek finished in Phedi where
Tsering, John and Josi held hands to complete the final three steps, followed
by congratulations and a sense of achievement on completing the Annapurna Circuit.
We then took our taxi to our final destination, Pokhara.